


It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it

by makesometime



Category: Stellar Firma (Podcast)
Genre: Episode Tag, Non-Sexual Kink, Non-Sexual Submission, Other, Some sexual thoughts but no sex, Spanking, Under-negotiated Kink, spoilers for episode 65
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 05:01:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30016539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makesometime/pseuds/makesometime
Summary: She just about manages not to flush as she acts out strapping them down, and then Trexel is Trexel and in the end it’s easier, really, to just go after Trexel when he leaves.She just doesn’t know why she goes back.(That’s a lie. She does know.)
Relationships: David 7/Hartro Piltz
Comments: 14
Kudos: 13





	It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tuesdaycoming](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuesdaycoming/gifts).



> *small wave* Hello, nothing like writing for a new fandom and having it just be balls to the wall kink exploration for a pairing that I've been desperately falling for for about 10 episodes now.
> 
> This is a tag to episode 65, and there are spoilers for earlier episodes too. Hartro uses he/they pronouns in her head to think of David 7, to match up with the show.

It’s not right.

She hates seeing them this way.

It's not right, it’s not right at all.

This isn’t how the clone that she's idiotically tied herself to should be acting, even if she did take them away from his place with her stupid paper gun. There’s more to David-7 than this moping, silent, spiteful little clone, even if there _shouldn’t_ be. Even if it’s a miracle that he’s still functional at all.

She’s not been losing sleep over _this_ David, for Board’s sake.

(The Board doesn’t come into it. She knows what she’s doing, even if she can’t stop.)

She's been drawn to their power, to the way they look at her like she's nothing compared to them, an unusually well built, well defined, _autonomous clone_.

She's found herself thoughtlessly asking I.M.O.G.E.N about him more than once over recent weeks, to make sure they're not doing anything too outside the realms of what she can help with.

(She's put her hand between her legs more than once thinking of them telling her what to do, taking away her agency and leaving her at _peace_ —)

She goes to see David and Trexel with a singular intention. To understand what in Board’s name the pair of them were thinking, to make sure they don’t do anything so idiotic again and to insert herself more firmly into their day-to-day. To protect them.

And yet here they are.

Here he is.

David.

Lost.

( _If David's lost, what hope is there for the rest of them?_ )

"I know you like my roleplays." She says with false cheer, searching for any sort of reaction in his blank face.

It doesn’t get her anywhere but she’s committed now. Maybe it’s a special kind of madness that she’s been lucky enough to catch. It would certainly explain what comes next. She just about manages not to flush as she acts out strapping them down, and then Trexel is Trexel and in the end it’s easier, really, to just go after Trexel when he leaves.

She just doesn’t know why she goes back.

(That’s a lie. She does know.)

By the time the door to the room slides open I.M.O.G.E.N is already halfway through an alert to David, but it’s not enough to save her from the sight of them in the middle of their upsie-downsies. It’s compelling, in a way that she doesn’t like, that his head turns to look at her and their body just continues to move, focussed on the exercise in a way that seems almost inhuman.

_Inhuman_.

She doesn’t laugh. It isn’t really all that funny.

“What are you doing here Hartro?”

For the briefest of moments she considers slipping into the persona that she used so many times before, lowering her voice and swinging her hips and purring just _right_. But it’s David. It wouldn’t work. It would only embarrass her and she’s still trying to cling on to the barest hint of dignity.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay, David. You know. Like you do with a team.”

He doesn’t smile, but it does get him to his feet, which is better, because those damn suits don’t do anything to hide quite how muscular he’s gotten. “I thought we were a dusty space alligator?”

“T-that too! And you know, an alligator cannot function if its tail doesn’t want to work with its sickly head.”

She doesn’t like the way their lips twist. Clones don’t feel amusement, especially not the quiet, subversive kind that makes her want to tremble.

“Am I the tail or the sickly head?”

She huffs, turning her head so sharply that she nearly hits herself in the face with her regulation ponytail. “The head, David, obviously.”

“If I didn’t know you better, Hartro, I’d think that was a compliment.”

She doesn’t flush, though maybe she does, somewhere under the layers of Board approved foundation that she’s having to pile on now to hide the fact she’s not sleeping.

“Obviously it’s not David, I said the head is sickly. _You_ are sickly. Clearly.” She waves her hand quickly. “I mean just look at you.”

He smiles. “Why are you _here_ Hartro?”

She moves past him, hammering on the wall a few times and cursing as that damn disco ball appears, covering the both of them in tiny flickering reflections. Then, finally, blissfully, she reveals the bed and sinks down on it with a heavy sigh.

“You weren’t yourself earlier David, and we need you to be effective if we’re going to succeed. I’m not worried about myself, of course, but when we’re relying on _Trexel Geistman_ , the both of us have to be working at 110%.”

“ _I will also be doing my best to help suffocate Trexel Geistman!_ ”

Hartro smiles, and she thinks she catches a flicker of the same on David’s face. “Yes, I.M.O.G.E.N thank you.”

“I’m not alright, Hartro. I think even you can understand why.” David moves closer, and it absolutely doesn’t make her stomach clench. “What exactly did you intend on doing about it?”

There’s nothing suggestive about it. She doesn’t even think David would be capable of it. But something about the way they say it makes her grit her teeth to stifle a hungry little gasp. _Board,_ she’s a mess.

“You know, David-7 I rather thought my presence would be enough to make you feel better. I am, after all, a joy to be around.”

“Well, you’re certainly better than Trexel.”

“David, that is the lowest of low bars and I am offended.”

He pulls up a chair, sitting down and resting his elbows on those oddly well defined thighs. “Alright. Unless you can think of a way to free clones that don’t want to be freed, I’m not sure there’s a lot you can do.”

“I think I.M.O.G.E.N. might be better placed to help you with that—.”

“ _I am running the calculations as you speak_!”

“—I’m just one person, David.”

“And I’m just one clone. Look how far I managed to get.”

“You’re not _just_ anything.”

It’s out of her mouth before she can think better of it. She hopes, fruitlessly, that maybe what she actually means is hidden, somehow, that it won’t land right on the ears of a clone who’s in the middle of a crisis of confidence.

“Hartro.”

She winces. “Yes, David-7?”

“I can think of something that might help.”

They say it so carefully that she wants to bolt. To run to the door with an airy laugh and a bid that she’ll see him tomorrow. Instead she clenches her fingers around the hem of her Board-regulation pencil skirt and blinks slowly at him.

“And what’s that, David?”

“Turn around.” They say, quiet enough that she almost doesn’t hear it. “Please.”

Again, she knows she could leave. Could pretend that this never happened.

She takes a deep breath and sets her hands at the edge of the mattress for a moment, then turns, resting on her knees and looking at the back wall of the little sleep cubby.

I.M.O.G.E.N beeps and she jolts, shouting, “Not _now_ I.M.O.G.E.N!” before she can stop it.

He moves so quietly that she doesn’t realise he’s behind her before they settle their hands over each of her shoulders. “Kneel on the floor. Over the bed.”

A part of her wonders where they picked up this persona, before she remembers that he’s had unfiltered access to I.M.O.G.E.N’s databanks for weeks now. She slips her knees down to rest heavy on the floor and folds her hands together, leaning on the bed and not taking her eyes off the white wall.

It’s semi-reflective, so she can see the faint outline of David as they pull the chair over and take a seat, before reaching out for the hem of her skirt and slowly pulling it up.

She swallows down a curse, knowing that her breathing has picked up even from the feel of their weirdly slick skin against the back of her thighs. Honestly, if this is what he needs to focus again, it’s a weight that she can bear. Make him feel like he’s getting one over on the Board through her. Whatever their motivation is, she gasps when he shoves the skirt up over her backside. The room hadn’t felt cold before, but it does now as they sit back, looking at how they’ve exposed her. How she’s let them expose her.

She’s not sure quite what she’s expecting until the first smack of his hand against her skin, harsh even through the barrier of her Board-regulation underwear. She gasps, glad that it’s not a moan. Not yet, at least.

“I.M.O.G.E.N let me see this site.” David says, quiet and casual, as if he’s not bringing his hand back to spank her once more. They’re holding back, she knows. Their strength could hurt her, but this just stings, shocking an unsteady breath out of her. “I didn’t understand what they were doing at first.”

Their hand comes down again, harder than before. “I understand now.”

She bites at her lip as he continues, slow and steady, so that she can anticipate each small impact. It starts to feel almost like a ritual, each pass of his hand bringing them closer to something that she can’t quite put a name to. It throbs between her legs and behind her sternum and echoes through her ears as she breathes, slow at first and then more unsteady.

“You look good like this Hartro.” They say, and she believes he means it. “I can see why you wouldn’t want it. Vulnerable, isn’t it?”

“ _Yes._ ” She says, wavering. “Yes very clever David, you’ve taught me quite a lesson.”

He smacks her harder and she whimpers. “Be quiet, Hartro.”

She complies, keeping all the words she wants to say on her tongue. _This isn’t like me, I don’t need this, but you need it and maybe that makes it all okay._ It’s not the truth, not really, not in its entirety. For the best, then, that she doesn’t say it.

By the time David sits back and pulls her skirt back down, she’s slick between her legs and unsteady on her feet when she tries to stand. They wrap a hand around her wrist and it leaves a stickiness that matches the one that sits beneath her skirt.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Hartro.” They say, with a quiet smile.

“Yes. Yes, you will.” She says, walking to the door on shaky legs with ankles that feel like they’re about to shatter. “Chin up, David-7. Remember the alligator.”

The door shuts behind her, but she doesn’t relax until she’s back in her room, sagging against the door with a heavy heavy sigh.

“ _I might remind you that your shower is the most soundproof part of your room!_ ”

“Yes.” She breathes, smoothing a hand over her hair and tugging on the ponytail. “Yes, I.M.O.G.E.N, thank you.”


End file.
